Maplight Therapeutics (NASDAQ:MPLT) Upgraded by BMO Capital Markets to “Strong-Buy” Rating

Maplight Therapeutics (NASDAQ:MPLT) was upgraded by research analysts at BMO Capital Markets to a “strong-buy” rating in a report released on Monday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other analysts have also weighed in on the company. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Maplight Therapeutics in a report on Monday, July 13th. HC Wainwright reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Maplight Therapeutics in a research report on Monday, June 22nd. Needham & Company LLC boosted their price target on Maplight Therapeutics from $42.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 10th. Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Maplight Therapeutics in a research report on Monday, June 22nd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on shares of Maplight Therapeutics from $28.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, June 1st. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have issued a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $40.09.

Maplight Therapeutics Price Performance

NASDAQ MPLT opened at $37.44 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.60 billion and a price-to-earnings ratio of -0.91. Maplight Therapeutics has a 12 month low of $12.24 and a 12 month high of $40.43. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $31.80 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $24.69.

Maplight Therapeutics (NASDAQ:MPLT) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 14th. The company reported ($1.34) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.91) by ($0.43). As a group, analysts anticipate that Maplight Therapeutics will post -5.13 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Maplight Therapeutics

In related news, insider Erin Pennock Foff sold 24,052 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.76, for a total transaction of $691,735.52. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 350,497 shares in the company, valued at $10,080,293.72. This represents a 6.42% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Christopher A. Kroeger sold 118,235 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, May 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.19, for a total value of $3,214,809.65. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,394,094 shares in the company, valued at $37,905,415.86. This represents a 7.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 495,244 shares of company stock worth $14,079,461. 3.80% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Strs Ohio bought a new position in Maplight Therapeutics in the 4th quarter worth about $53,000. Blue Owl Capital Holdings LP acquired a new stake in Maplight Therapeutics in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $5,745,000. Geode Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Maplight Therapeutics in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $6,835,000. Seven Grand Managers LLC bought a new stake in Maplight Therapeutics during the 4th quarter valued at $1,756,000. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. acquired a new position in Maplight Therapeutics during the 4th quarter worth $34,026,000.

About Maplight Therapeutics

We are a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on improving the lives of patients suffering from debilitating central nervous system, or CNS, disorders. We were founded by globally recognized leaders in psychiatry and neuroscience research to address the lack of circuit-specific pharmacotherapies available for patients. Our discovery platform holds the potential to fill this void by identifying neural circuits causally linked to disease and targeting those circuits for therapeutic modulation.